ALBEMARLE, N.C. — Albemarle city officials apparently uttered offensive hate speech while on a hot mic during Thursday night’s Planning and Zoning Board meeting.
The video that was posted online Thursday night appeared to have been disabled by the time Channel 9 tracked down the link.
Channel 9 got the video recording the next day where it appeared at least three board members were involved.
“That’s those (expletive) drag shows and (expletive) and (expletive) … is that what … that’s what, that’s why they’re here,” a board member could be heard saying during the hot mic.
Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe reached out to the Albemarle city manager, mayor, and city clerk by email Friday night asking if they were aware of the comments.
Lowe also submitted a public records request asking for the video of the public meeting.
“They’re representing the (expletive) … No, they’re representing us,” board members discussed in the recording.
The video shows board members were in recess when three of them started to discuss why so many showed up for the meeting.
“What’re all these people here for … That’s for that (expletive) drag queen and (expletive) like that around here … (unintelligible) … That’s (expletive),” a board member said.
The voluntarily appointed board was discussing proposed zoning changes, which would classify drag shows in Albemarle as a “sexually oriented business.”
Board members seemed confounded that there was such a large audience attending.
“These people that were here, that left, are against the (expletive) … Yea, the drag queens and stuff. The drag queen shows like they had at The Boardroom,” they said.
The board voted unanimously to table the issue until a meeting in September.
Meanwhile, a spokesman said the video was taken down because it violated the city’s social media policy.
“You talking about The Boardroom right down here? That restaurant … Yea, at The Boardroom where they had that drag queen (expletive),” they said.
Lowe received a statement from Albemarle Mayor Ronnie Michael, which said in part, “We are aware of inappropriate and inflammatory remarks made during a meeting of the voluntarily appointed planning and zoning board. We do not condone the words that were, used and they do not represent the city of Albemarle’s values or beliefs. We are currently determining the procedural steps to move forward.”
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